Reports are coming through that the world speed record for a steam locomotive - held since 1938 by the iconic Gresley A4 'Mallard' - has been broken at a railway testing facility near Taubenschwanzberg. LMS Jubilee class locomotive 45690 'Leander' has been recorded at 130mph on the main outer loop of the facility. Stills from a footplate camera with telemetry overlay (see attached) have been released by the team behind the record attempt. The train consisted of the locomotive, sporting a gleaming BR Black heritage livery and seven empty Mk1 carriages in the classic 'blood and custard' colour scheme. Veteran footplate team of driver Reg O'Layter and fireman Phil Cole-Shovell are delighted with the result of yesterdays record breaking run, having an earlier unofficial attempt on the Great Western mainline out of Paddington come to an unplanned halt after reaching 93mph. "That run was scuppered by a red light at Reading station", explains Reg, "so the team decided another go at the testing facility might be a better option". The attempt was not publicised to avoid the danger of the unpredictable and erratic behaviour of people on the station platform attempting to witness the historic moment causing an incident. "We actually didn't think the Jubilee could go that fast" muses Phil "but Reg found the sweet spot and the speed just kept climbing up and up. We could have gone faster I reckon, but it was getting on for lunchtime and I was desperate for a cup of tea and a sandwich". The team are now looking at relocating the locomotive to the National Railway Museum in York in light of it's historic achievement. The fate of the previous record holding locomotive is unknown, but we have heard unofficially that two brothers from South Wales are interested in taking it from the museums hands.
Now that was a great read! You almost had me there! Reg O'Layter and Phil Cole-Shovell! Ingenius! And then the red light at Reading! Imagine if this was on Kassel-Wurzburg! Well done chriis!
Had me for a moment there I was preparing to throw in the technicality that Mallard is the fastest in passenger service but now I feel like a bit of a fool. Fair play.
That’s ridiculous, I wonder if the LMS Fowler 4f can achieve the same speed or even more I guess we’ll have to wait for years before having realistic steam physics.
sigh... was just hoping a thread could progress without complaint from those that are blinded by their desire to complain, I guess not -- but brilliant write up from the OP -- well done
Mind you, the Germans to this day don't recognize Mallard, objecting that (1) it was on a downgrade, and (2) the engine broke down. They claim the record is theirs, set by a BR 05 in 1936.
There were probably some Pennsylvania, NYC and Milwaukee Road steamers that were quite capable of going above 126mph and likely did on level track in revenue service. Certainly, many American kettles regularly hit 100mph plus. However, no-one in the US was interested enough to keep records, and by the late '30's American railroads and loco builders were switching their attention to diesel.
By broken records, I wondered if you were taking about the “I already paid for LGV” complainers or the “cash grab” whiners!
Can't we just have one light-hearted thread without people bringing the debates over the game into it. Please?
Not just me then. Mallard at 152 in Sherman Hill: Managed to break that with a Sentinel steam shunter though:
Ah! That looks like just the tender without the steam locomotive going faster than an Intercity 225! Imagine seeing that fly past!
